June 13, 2023 By: Mark Knudson

Even in defeat, it’s time to salute Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

While his counterpart was popping the champagne and telling the rabid home court crowd that his team wanted “more, more, more,” the losing coach had to face the media post-game session after having lost the NBA Finals for the fourth time in his 15-year coaching career and confess that the other team was just better.

Yet somehow, the luster on Erik Spoelstra and his NBA coaching career isn’t wearing off.

If anything, it should be getting brighter.

There’s a reason Finals MVP Nikola Jokic made it a point to seek out Spoelstra to shake his hand immediately after the final horn sounded.

Respect.

The resume speaks for itself. Two NBA titles in six Finals appearances (plus a ring as an assistant coach.) Nine division titles. His teams have missed the postseason fewer times (three) than times they’ve played for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

As a protégé of Hall of Famer Pat Riley, Spoelstra has received outstanding tactical training to be sure. But coaching is more than that. It’s learning to manage egos; it’s knowing how to get the most out of players who may have a bit less talent than those they’re battling against. Spoelstra has had to deal with all of that and everything in between.

At the start, he was coaching the fearsome three-some of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. The expectations were “not one, not two, not three…” championships, remember? Most observers felt like they could have coached that team to multiple NBA titles. Miami won two, but somehow that still seemed like an underachievement. Spoelstra was underappreciated.

When LeBron took his talents back home to Cleveland and the Heat were no longer the super team, Spoelstra’s teams kept on going. Those teams – minus James and Bosh – still won division titles and still competed for NBA titles. After a dry spell that included no playoffs in 2015, ’17 and ’19, the Heat, with a star in Jimmy Butler, stalwart defender Bam Adebayo and a decent group of role players, made it back to the NBA Finals in 2020 and again in 2023.

This season, he did it with the two standouts an inordinate number of guys who weren’t even drafted. Free agents like Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Max Strus. Sharpshooter Tyler Hero got hurt at the start of the postseason. Kevin Love and Kyle Lowry are on the downside, and Victor Oladipo suffered a terrible injury mid-season. Yet without home court in ANY playoff series, the Heat STILL upset the top two seeds in the east, Milwaukee and Boston, on their way to an improbable Finals run.

From a talent perspective, Miami had no business being in the NBA Finals. Yet they battled the more talented Denver Nuggets down to the wire.

From a coaching perspective, the Heat had perhaps the best guy available. There are a few more decorated coaches like Gregg Popovich still out there, but few would argue that Spoelstra isn’t among the best. And as good as his counterpart in these finals, Michael Malone is (and he should have gotten more love in the Coach of the Year voting) Malone’s team didn’t reach the pinnacle until they got completely healthy and had their best players playing at the top of their games.

That NBA Coach of the Year Award – voted on at the end of the regular season – went to Sacramento’s Mike Brown this season, when the Kings emerged as a contender for the first time since the days of Vlade Divac. Meanwhile, the Heat won just 44 regular season games, finished in the 7^th spot in the Eastern Conference and had to win a play IN game just to earn the right to meet the east’s top seed, the Bucks, in the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Sacramento was ousted in the first round.

The postseason is where outstanding coaches like Spoelstra separate themselves. They get every drop out of what they have. They can massage egos, handle accolades and success. They can weather criticism, injuries, losing streaks and depleted rosters and still find a way to win when it matters most.

Spoelstra has coached an NBA All-Star team twice, but has never been the league’s Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, statistically speaking, he’s among the top 15 coaches in NBA history.

If the league waited until after the postseason to cast ballots, Spoelstra would have finally been the NBA’s Coach of the Year. He’ll probably never win that award, now that he’s expected to win with whatever roster he’s given.

He’ll have to settle for mad respect.